DAP member Zaid Ibrahim should produce evidence to back up his claim that “billionaires and towkays” are the decision makers in the Pakatan Harapan government, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

“I don’t know, maybe he (Zaid) has evidence.

“Then he can show evidence (about) how many billions I have, you see,” Mahathir quipped when asked about Zaid's statement after an event at the Putrajaya Leadership Foundation.

He nevertheless brushed off Zaid’s allegation as being the latter’s own opinion which he was entitled to express.

Yesterday, Zaid had claimed that the Harapan manifesto promises of a welfare state were now being overruled by “billionaires and towkays”.

“Look at their (GE14) manifesto and you can tell it was written by idealists and academics who painted a picture of hope for an equal and egalitarian country.

“[...] The problem is that the real decision makers in the Harapan government are not socialists or supporters of the welfare system. They are billionaires and towkays who are close to and are in line with Mahathir’s economic thinking,” he had said.

Zaid, a former Umno MP and minister, had also blamed Mahathir’s “laissez-faire” economic policies during his first tenure as PM as the cause for Umno leaders to become greedy, ultimately leading to the party losing government in the 14th general election.

Be vigilant against ‘zealotry’

Earlier during the event, which saw the launch of jeweller Poh Kong’s “Gold Note of Hope” gold bars, Mahathir urged Malaysians to be “vigilant” against those attempting to fan racial and religious tensions in the country.

“Despite extremists and fanatics trying to stir racial and religious zealotry, the majority of our people have either rejected or ignored them.

“But that does not mean we should take for granted (that) they, one day, won’t be able to galvanise and mobilise enough to inflict us untold damages.

“So be vigilant,” he warned, not mentioning who exactly he was describing.

He added that freedom of speech and a free press did not equate the “freedom to stir trouble”.

“While there are legislations to stop such attempts, the most effective will always be how the rakyat responds to it.

“If the rakyat are not at all taken up by this zealots, they will be exposed,” Mahathir added.